The Shadow of Hyuuga
by Agent Eye
Summary: A mysterious shinobi enters Konoha. A building gets blown up with three culprits. . A small conflict between the group's leader and the mysterious shinobi occurs, which Neji Hyuuga intercepts. Who are these people and what do they want? Shippuden time.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: I don't own Naruto, or any of the characters except for the OCs. 'Tis my first time writing a Naruto fic, so go ahead and criticize all you wish. Makes me a better writer. So, for those who have read my other stories, why have I started writing again? Personal reasons

Chapter 1:

The soft wind rustled the lazy leaves, lifting them up in the sky, picking some dust off the ground, making the leaves float in the air for a few seconds before crashing down. It had been a dull day for the guards at the Konoha gates. They were so bored they were noticing how the wind picked up the leaves. Their boredom, however, ceased to exist as a stranger walked closer in sight. The stranger wore a black cloak, which covered all of his features, including his face. He held no headband in sight, or any other means of identification. The shinobi guards merely waited as he got closer to the gate, to see if he had any sort of symbol, but nothing was seen. The only thing that could be heard was his footsteps, slow and steady, in addition to the wind's sound. Intrigued by the shinobi, one of the shinobi spoke up.

"Hey, wait up!" shouted one of the shinobi. He wore the standard Konoha shinobi green outfit, in addition to his headband on forehead, displaying his alliance to Konoha. His curly hair rustled by the wind. However, the moment the shinobi shouted, the stranger stopped in his tracks, and with his stopping, so came the stopping of the wind. The other guard noticed this, and tensed a bit. The interrogating shinobi, however, didn't. The guard started speaking, "We are going to need some identification-" but was stopped midsentence, for some strange reason. This caught the other guard's attention as he moved closer, but only managed to notice the incoming shadow from the shinobi's own shadow. _A Nara?_ He thought, as it was too late, and his shadow had mixed with the cloaked shinobi's. Both of the guards' body moved forcibly to stand like the shinobi, with their hands in their pocket, and head tilted a bit forwards so the cloak could cover the shinobi's face. Then, all three shinobi rose their hands, as the cloaked shinobi lifted his index finger, and placed it sideways against his lips, making a gesture for the shinobi to be quiet. The_Kagemane no Jutsu_ (Shadow Bind Technique) had been successful, but was it the Kagemane?

"How are you doing this? Kagemane requires hand seals," said one of the guards, his speech a little slurred from the finger against his lips. The moment the guard spoke, all of three were looking through their pockets, and while the shinobi pulled two kunais, the others didn't. Then, the kunai began glowing, blue chakra covering them completely. With that, the kunais were thrown, not at the shinobi, but strangely at the ground. Just before they kunai struck the ground, the Kagemane was released, and the stranger's shadow receded to its original state. With that, the guards attempted to move but noticed they remained bound.

"The blue glow on the kunai comes from my chakra, which was imbued in them. It acts as part of my shadow chakra," he said, as he pointed to where the kunai had struck, which had been the place were each of the guards's shadow was located. "I believe Shikamaru called it the _Kagemane Shuriken no Jutsu _(Shadow Bind Shuriken Technique)." One of the guards's eyes widened.

"Shikamaru Nara? Then you _are_ a Nara!" exclaimed the guard, leading to a small clap by the stranger. With that, a single hand seal was formed, and two thin shadow tendrils rose from the ground, and went straight towards the guards's neck, pressing hard against a spot on each guards's neck. The guards did not last long, as the tendrils were pressing against the carotid artery, leading to quick incapacitation.

"_Kage Nui_(Shadow Sewing) does the job rather well," responded the stranger and with that, he entered Konoha.

----------------------------

A dull night ruled over Konoha, with the moon's hazy glow cast on the city. It seemed as if everyone was sleeping, under the moonlight's relaxing spell. It all seemed so quiet and peaceful, but as everything in the shinobi world, this would not last. A large explosion rid Konoha of the golden silence of the night, as the fire from the explosion started spreading. The building from which the explosion came from had been mostly destroyed, with only a few parts of the walls remained, and the rest consumed by the fire and smoke. Using the smoke as a cover, three figures came out of the building. The taller one had white wavy hair, which came down to his upper back. His eyes were cold blue, with a slight icy-texture to them, which contrasted with his tanned skin. He wore a sleeveless white shirt, with beige pants. The figure to his right had a more slender body, with long, silky black hair that reached her mid back. She wore long black pants that matched her hair. She had a well-sized bust, which gave away her gender, if the feminine figure had not done it already. Her face, however, was blocked from sight by a white mask. In addition to the mask, she also wore a big white shirt, that too big for size-wise, though the sleeves were just the right side. To the left of the tanned man, a younger male stood, with short curly hair. He wore dark blue Shaolin monk robes, in addition to off-white eyes.

"Let's go before the ANBU show up. Not that we couldn't handle them, but we don't need the trouble," said the tanned man, taking command of the group. They all nodded as they started running but stopped as they saw a figure standing under the light of a streetlight. It was a cloaked figure, with the hood down. He had brown eyes, with brown hair that flowed down to the edges of his face from his head. The tanned man growled, but then grinned. "Kuro Nara," said the tanned man, looking at the cloaked man.

"Should we take him down, Kai-sensei?" asked the young male towards the tanned man, but he shook his head.

"I'll take this one, you two flee," he commanded, keeping his stare at Kuro. They nodded as they jumped to one side, Kuro making no move in response. "Not going to chase them? Play the hero, and all?"

"I'm not a hero, Kai. I'm a shinobi, following my own personal agenda," he responded, and Kai laughed.

"As you wish, but if you follow me, I'll have to kill you" said Kai, and with that he jumped towards a roof top, and started running away. Kuro was on the move, and chased after him, from roof to roof top. He threw a shuriken, heading straight towards Kai. At this point, Kai stopped and pulled a kunai to block it. Kuro jumped towards the rooftop that Kai stood on. Kai merely grinned as he raised his palm, making it face Kuro, and shouted. "_Chakura Bakuhatsu_(Chakra Burst)!" he shouted as a blue burst of charka came from his palm, heading straight towards Kuro. The hit struck him, but he turned into a smoke, revealing the shuriken he had thrown earlier. Thus, appearing very close to Kai, Kuro's shadow extended towards Kai's. Kai jumped to one side, cursing the full moon's light as a burst of chakra came from his arm, which he had placed in front of him parallel to his body for defense, towards Kuro. Kuro jumped back, barely dodging the blast of chakra, as his shadow moved back with him, allowing for a quick slap from the tendril to Kai, sending him towards the ground, off the roof. Kai struck the ground and skidded, until he managed to recover, but Kuro was after him once more. Kuro's shadow extended quickly, rising from the ground in the form of tendrils with spikes at the tip, ready to pierce Kai but then, he vanished for a split second, re-appearing in front of Kuro.

"_Shunshin no Jutsu_(Body Flicker Technique)!" managed to utter Kuro as Kai appeared out of nowhere. Before Kai struck his face, his shadow moved up his body, similarly to the _Kage Kubi Shibari no Jutsu_(Shadow Neck Bind Technique), to the spot where Kai would strike. The hit was successful, and surprisingly, it sent straight Kuro into a wall. The wall cracked a bit, as Kuro made an imprint on the wall from the hit. The right side of his face was bleeding badly.

"How the hell is he living?" asked Kai to himself, noticing Kuro remained conscious, as well as alive.

"_Gouwan_(Strong Arm)?" said Kuro, slowly breathing, trying remove himself from the wall. Kai nodded.

"Like Tsunade-sama, which is why I'm troubled that you survived. No matter, let's finish this," he said as his fist glowed, accumulating chakra for finishing blow. With that, he ran towards Kuro. Kuro desperately tried to remove himself off the wall, but didn't manage to do it. His shadow tendrils rose in defense as Kai jumped to deal the final blow. However, before he could make contact, a blast of what seemed to be air came at full force, hitting Kai, sending Kai several yards away, his body skidding on the street again. Kuro turned to see who it was, and noticed a Hyuuga. It had been the work of Neji Hyuuga, and his _Hakke Kuushou_(Eight Divination Signs Air Palm). Using the momentum he gathered from the attack, Kai used his hands to jump in the sky. Then, from his back, long amounts of chakra burst out, but rather than disappearing, they remained tied to his being, and soon started taking form into large wings, which he used to achieve flight.

"Byakugan!" shouted Neji, as his Byakugan activated, and he stared at Kai flying in the air, laughing. He was partially shocked to discover how much chakra he possessed. _It's more than Naruto during the Chuunin Exams and that shark man's amount combined_ thought Neji, as Kai flew away. With that, he turned to Kuro. He had seen Kai's attack, which was very similar to Sakura's fighting style. What he did not understand was why Kuro's skull wasn't broken, like everyhing else Sakura struck. The two stared at each other, but before either could speak, the ANBU appeared.

"We can take it from here," said one of the ANBU. Neji stared at Kuro for a moment, then nodded as he took his leave. No point in arguing with the ANBU, and with that, the ANBU stared at Kuro, who sighed as his tendril receded back to the ground.


	2. Kai Unser

OOC: Sorry for the wait ;; I was planning on putting this up last weekend but stuff happened.

Chapter 2: Kai Unser

The Hyuuga remained awake, thinking of the incident earlier in the night. A few hours had passed, but he had not managed to settle back to sleep. The fire had been extinguished, rather quick by various shinobi with Water Jutsus. The commotion of the event had died by the hour, as the people found more interest in finishing their sleep. Indeed, they could worry about the incident during the morning. Neji, however, was concerned with other things, particularly the fight he witnessed. It wasn't the best of fights, but its contenders were, however, very peculiar. The Nara character was an interesting one, considering that most of the Nara shinobi don't really fight a whole lot, making it a rare sight. Even more interesting was his opponent, the tanned man. His chakra reserve seemed off the roof, almost as if he had limitless. He began to wonder whether it was the cause of a bijuu, but he realized that the chakra was not the color red, like other bijuu's chakra. Yet, so much chakra seemed inhumane, as if this particular shinobi was from another race. The only form of identification was a symbol on his shirt consisting of four crooked lines, the symbol for Rain Village, which didn't make sense considering that area was a very misty region, making unlikely for shinobi to be tanned. Amidst his thoughts, one of the ANBU appeared, seating down on his window sill, disturbing his thinking. The ANBU shinobi nodded, and Neji nodded as well as he got up from his bed, and they left the Hyuuga Estate. Truth be told, he didn't expect the ANBU to call him, much less at this hour. It was a quick travel to the Hokage's Tower, very silent one as well. They walked through the stairs, until reaching their final destination: The Hokage's office. Upon entering, the room was empty, except for Kuro Nara and Tsunade, who was sitting at her desk. Kuro's face was without a single scratch; obviously he had been healed by a Medic shinobi.

"…and if he reaches the Porodax, we lose," said Kuro, as he noticed the company coming in, and noticed it was the same Hyuuga kid from before. Neji looked at the Nara, then at Tsunade. The Hokage, noticing the new company, stood up.

"Where is the other?" asked Tsunade and, as if answering her question, the door was slammed open as a girl stumbled into the room, falling as she entered. It was no other than the Hyuuga Clan's heir, Hinata Hyuuga. The years had done her well, looking back three years ago, when her first Chuunin Exam occurred, and looking at her currently, it was obvious that she had changed, if not mentally then physically. Neji looked at her critically. Her appearance there only seemed brought a variety of questions. Why was she there, and why her? Such questions also brought back the question as to why he was there.

"There you are, Hinata," she said, looking at the Hyuuga shinobi, and then dismissing the ANBU, except for one. "The reason I have called you both here is because a special mission is about to take place. An A – Rank criminal, by the name of Kai Unser, has looted one of Konoha's storage facilities, stealing a very valuable scroll. The mission is simple. Recover the looted scroll, and eliminate the criminal. It seems that he is heading back to the Rain Village. Due to the lack of time, it'd be best if you left now." It seemed as if Tsunade was in a haste, as if wanting them to leave as fast they could. "In this mission, our special jounin Kuro Nara shall serve as your captain." With that, she pointed to the brown haired individual, resting against one of the walls of the tower, who nodded in response. With that, she sent them away from her office. Once they left, Tsunade sighed.

"You think they'll catch him?" asked ANBU shinobi, curious. Tsunade looked at him, as she stood up.

"Pretty confident in their skills," she said as she stretched a bit, as she started turning around to face the window, "I don't doubt that Ku-" she stopped mid-sentenced as she saw herself face-to-face with another shinobi. The other shinobi was upside down, his legs being held by something that wasn't in clear sight, as his feet, as well as most of his legs, were above the border of the window. The shinobi wore a black jumpsuit, in addition to a white mask, that fit his face perfectly, leaving no trace of his skin showing. He waved at Tsunade, as Tsunade backed up. Then, she moved forward and punched the stranger. To the ANBU's surprise, the stranger broke into many tiny pieces of glass.

"Who is that?" said the ANBU, as he walked closer, looking at the pieces of glass falling down, crashing against the ground.

"The Watcher, and he's watching," said Tsunade, looking down. The ANBU seemed confused as to what she meant.

"The Watcher? Sounds like a stupid way for this author to include an OC of him in here," said the ANBU, scratching his head. "So, do you think this Watcher fellow is going to cause trouble?"

"Doubt it. Agent Eye promised himself he wouldn't include an OC of himself. As for what effects of The Watcher have… either their mission got a lot easier, or a lot harder. That's The Watcher, after all. He watches, until it's time to strike. Then, as fast as he shows up, he disappears. Very strange shinobi…"

- - - -

The trip was very quiet for Hinata, Neji, and Kuro as they headed towards the Konoha gates. This, however, changed the moment they stepped out of the gates, as Neji broke the silence.

"So this Kai Unser, anything we should know about him?" asked Neji, skipping introductions. Kuro turned his head to look at him, as they walked.

"If you get in a conflict with him and for whatever reason I'm not around, run. If you can't run away, then avoid fighting directly. If you are forced to fight directly, then know he is a Gouwan(Strong Arm) user. He'll kill you in a single hit," said Kuro. Neji, however, wasn't convinced.

"Then how come you took that hit directly, and received minimal damage?" asked Neji. Kuro chuckled.

"Simple really. Deflect the chakra. Gouwan works by releasing chakra upon impact, which allows for the great impacts. If you can find a way to disperse the chakra or knock it off course, you can reduce the damage greatly,"

"So how did you do it?" asked Neji, curious of Kuro's methods. Kuro gave him a small smile.

"That's not important right now. What's important is you figuring a way to do it yourself. You are a Hyuuga, no? You guys specialize in fooling around with chakra. Shouldn't be too hard," responded Kuro, as Neji glared. He didn't like the fact this guy made no effort to help them. Before he could utter a remark regarding the tanned man's large amount of chakra, Hinata spoke up.

"Kuro-san, h-how come we haven't seen you a lot in the v-village?" she asked, stuttering a bit. He raised an eyebrow, hearing her stutter. Hinata seemed like a very shy girl. Perhaps too shy for such a mission.

"Let's just say I've been on one long assignment, which it took me a long while to accomplish. An S – Rank mission of sorts, if you would," he said with a slight chuckle, and with that, Neji and Hinata stopped walking.

"An S – Rank mission? That lasted for years?" asked Neji, looking at Kuro who had stopped walking.

"No questions about it, okay? We got more important things to do. We need to get to the Rain House ," he said, turning to face them. The Rain House was a slang name for a very big house located in the Rain Village. It's so famous because of the famous parties, meetings, and even peace treaties signed there. Neji and Hinata, however, wouldn't budge.

"As S – Rank that lasted that long? They never last that long! What mission is this? Just who are you?" asked Neji, demanding answers.

"I'm Kuro Nara but I'll be your death if you keep asking questions. I assure you most of your questions are of no importance. Should you need to know them, you will, but for now, you don't. Now, let's go do this mission, and you guys can return to your normal lives and forget I exist." Neji growled, as he watched Kuro walking once again, and he started following him. Hinata rushed to catch up.

"W-why do we need t-to get to the Rain House?" she asked, trying to break some of the tension that was building up.

"Because what Kai stole from Konoha is close to useless without a certain object in the Rain House, and since its owner is hosting a party tomorrow, we need to get there in time so we can attend, and stop Kai. Luckily, Rain Village is not that far, but we need to move faster."

"But what is in the house and what did Kai steal?" asked Neji.

"It's a long story that you won't need to know if we can stop them at the party," responded Kuro.

"Them? Who else is he traveling with?" asked Neji.

"He picked up some lackeys. I got no information on them, though. All I know is that the male one has white eyes like yours," said Kuro, surprising Neji.

"Eyes like mine? Do you mean…the Byakugan?" asked Neji, a bit troubled. Hinata was also surprised at this. Kuro, however, merely shrugged.

"No clue. I just noticed that his eyes are white like yours. Come on, we got a long journey to go," and with that, they went on their way.


End file.
